An Xinghe felt a surge of wild joy. He had really come to the merfolk!
An Xinghe jumped out of bed, bowed to the mermaid, and said:
"Thank you so much for saving me, Miss Mermaid! I'm already fine. My name is An Xinghe, and I'm human."
The mermaid had never seen such a handsome and courteous man before, and her face immediately flushed red:
"Um, my name is Vanessa. I happened to find you drowning while I was playing in the sea, so I brought you back. There's no need to thank me!"
"The sea?" After Vanessa said that, An Xinghe suddenly realized that he was surrounded by seawater! Yet he didn't feel uncomfortable at all!
Vanessa noticed An Xinghe's confusion and explained:
"I gave Mr. An an Ocean Heart. It allows him to breathe and swim freely underwater, just like us merfolk."
Only after hearing Vanessa say that did An Xinghe notice that an extra skill had appeared in his skill panel.
[Name: Ocean Heart] [Type: Passive Skill] [Quality: Perfect Grade] [Effect: Allows the user to live and breathe freely in any water] [Note: In the Celestial Dynasty, this thing is called a Water-Repelling Pearl!]
The words "Perfect Grade" stabbed deeply into An Xinghe's eyes!
Live stream.
[Perfect... Perfect-grade Skill! Brothers, did you see that? It's a Perfect-grade Skill!]
[This is only An Xinghe's fourth dungeon! He already has a Perfect-grade Skill! Are they even going to let the rest of us live?!]
[And this skill is passive! A passive skill that's even more precious than active skills! I'm so jealous!]
[Yang Mi has cleared so many dungeons, and she only has one Perfect-grade Skill right now—and it's even an active one!]
[I've reported him. An Xinghe is cheating!]
[This can't be explained by cheating anymore! He must be the Horror Game's own son!]
[Didn't you notice? This skill was given to him by a girl!]
[Another steaming bowl of easy rice!]
[This easy rice is way too delicious, isn't it?!]
An Xinghe naturally knew how precious a Perfect-grade Skill was, so he couldn't help worrying as he said to Vanessa:
"The Ocean Heart I ate should be an incredible treasure, right? Is it really okay to give something like that to a stranger?"
Vanessa shook her head so quickly it was like a rattle drum:
"You're overthinking it, Mr. An. The Ocean Heart isn't considered a precious treasure. Besides, it's my personal property, so you don't need to worry."
Section 50: Vanessa
While Vanessa and An Xinghe were chatting, a knock came from outside.
"Vanessa, are you there? I'm coming in."
Vanessa's face suddenly went pale, and she hurriedly shouted:
"Sister Jennifer! Don't come in yet! I... I'm not feeling well!"
Jennifer laughed from outside:
"What could possibly be awkward between us? Don't tell me you're still lazing in bed, Vanessa? Then I'm coming in to pull off your covers!"
Jennifer's words reminded Vanessa of An Xinghe. She forcefully pushed him onto the bed, then jumped up herself and covered them both with a seaweed blanket.
At that moment, Jennifer pushed the door open and entered!
Looking at Vanessa lying on the bed, she smiled indulgently:
"Oh, oh, so our little Vanessa lazes in bed too!"
Vanessa twisted her body coquettishly:
"Sister~~ I'm not lazing in bed!"
However, she had forgotten that there was another person under the blanket! And a young, vigorous man at that!
She had also forgotten that this was a single bed!
An Xinghe could only feel a constant fragrance drilling into his nose!
What kind of benefit could a human possibly enjoy this much?!
Vanessa also sensed that something was wrong. She quickly stopped moving, reached under the blanket, and patted An Xinghe's head, signaling him not to move his hands around!
Jennifer noticed that something was wrong too. Pointing at Vanessa's blanket, she asked suspiciously:
"Little sister, is your blanket really this bulging?"
The moment he heard that, An Xinghe knew things were bad. He immediately wrapped his arms around Vanessa's fish tail, making sure the two of them were pressed as tightly together as possible!
Vanessa's face turned as red as a boiled shrimp as she answered evasively:
"I guess I've put on some weight recently."
Jennifer giggled:
"Who doesn't know that Father King dotes on you the most? He saves all the best food and drink for you first! Of course you'd gain weight! Father King even bestowed the only Ocean Heart in the entire clan upon you!"
Live stream.
[Little Vanessa got exposed!]
[She just said the Ocean Heart wasn't precious. Who would've thought the merfolk only had one!]
[Something that can directly create a Perfect-grade Skill—how could it not be precious?!]
[An Xinghe really is going to live off this easy rice!]
[Could An Xinghe take responsibility for this by marrying her?]
[Is what An Xinghe is doing called taking responsibility by marrying her?! It's called building a harem, okay!]
[Waaah! Little Vanessa is such a good person!]
Exposed by Jennifer on the spot, Vanessa felt incredibly embarrassed and hurriedly changed the subject:
"Sister, what brings you here?"
Jennifer remembered that she had business to attend to and quickly straightened her expression:
"Well, your coming-of-age ceremony is in a few days, isn't it? Father King sent me to call you over so we could discuss it."
As she spoke, Jennifer leaned close to Vanessa's ear and whispered:
"Let me tell you another little secret. Father King has already found the most handsome and bravest young man in our merfolk clan for you! Once your coming-of-age ceremony is over, he'll have him marry you! I've seen that young man, and he's incredibly handsome! If he weren't meant for you, Vanessa, I'd want to steal him for myself! You're definitely going to like him!"
If Vanessa had heard this news yesterday, she would certainly have happily agreed.
But for some reason, Vanessa didn't feel happy at all now. The image of a man appeared in her mind.
For the first time, Vanessa felt resistant to Father King's arrangements!
Vanessa felt that her heart was in turmoil.
The live-stream viewers saw through Vanessa's thoughts:
[That expression—she's fallen for him too!!]
[An Xinghe, please stop showing off your divine powers!]
[I should've realized it when Vanessa gave An Xinghe the Ocean Heart!]
[An Xinghe, a human-shaped, self-propelled beauty harvester??]
[Brother An! Dad An! I'm on my knees! Please teach me how to be reincarnated into a better life!]
"Um, is there reproductive isolation between humans and merfolk?"
"Ahem, how would we know without trying..."
Jennifer also noticed that something was wrong with Vanessa and asked:
"What's wrong, little Vanessa? Are you unhappy? You don't like Father King's arrangement?"
Vanessa shook her head. "It's not that, it's just..."
"Forget it, Sister. You go ahead. I'll go see Father King in a moment."
Jennifer didn't suspect anything. "All right, come over quickly. Don't keep Father King waiting."
Jennifer closed the door, and An Xinghe could finally pull back the blanket and breathe some fresh air!
Vanessa pointed at An Xinghe's hand with a trembling finger:
"Mr. An, you... can you let go of me now?"
An Xinghe hurriedly released the hand that was still wrapped around Vanessa's fish tail.
To be honest, those soft scales felt incredibly addictive to touch!
Section 51: I'm Doing This for Concealment! Concealment, Understand?
After what had just happened with Jennifer entering, things became somewhat awkward between An Xinghe and Vanessa.
Fortunately, An Xinghe, an experienced flirt, immediately changed the subject:
"Vanessa, the Ocean Heart you gave me doesn't seem to be something you can find just anywhere, as you claimed."
Vanessa blushed furiously:
"I... I didn't mean to deceive you."
An Xinghe took a step forward, closing the distance between them:
"Such a precious gift... I'm dressed in nothing but common clothes, and I have no way to repay you."
"How about I repay you with myself?"
Vanessa hurriedly waved her hands:
Before you continue